Centuries old book comes home

A MUCH travelled book has found its way home to Chetham's library in Manchester - after three and a half centuries. The £2,000 volume, a religious work published in 1631, turned up in a London bookseller's last year.

A MUCH travelled book has found its way home to Manchester - after three and a half centuries.

The £2,000 volume, a religious work published in 1631, turned up in a London bookseller's last year.

Experts noted a label on the fly-leaf which read: `Humphrey Chetham Booke, 1664' and they realised it had belonged to the man who founded the world-famous school and library in Manchester which bear his name.

They contacted chief librarian Dr Michael Powell and, after a price was agreed, it now sits back where it did in the 18th century - in Chetham's Library, the oldest surviving public library in the English-speaking world.

Significant

Dr Powell said: "While a price can be put on the book, its value to us is so much more because it is from the collection of this organisation's founder."

He described Humphrey Chetham as one of Manchester's most significant historical figures.

"He was a government officer and supporter of Cromwell at the time of the Civil War," he added.

The volume, bound in vellum, consists of religious and political works by Archbishop James Ussher.